25th Hunger Games
by Lil Angel 927
Summary: What would you do if you were chosen, by your people, to go to the Hunger Games when you're only twelve? OC
1. Reaping Day

**A/N:****I do not own any part of the Hunger Games, and these characters are all made up. Just please review it :)**

I woke up, a rush of dread and worry flowing through me as I remembered what day it was. Today was the Reaping day, and in fact my very first Reaping day ever. My name is Violet Langston, and I am only twelve years old. My name is only in the bowl once; my mother wouldn't allow my name to be in there any more than that, no matter how much tesserae was given to us. I'm the smallest child in my district for my age; I've gotten teased about it ever since I started playing with other kids. I also tend to daydream a lot, which prompts even more teasing from the other children. However, I am quite useful to District 11. Because of my small height, I can quickly climb up trees and collect fruit during my free time.

I walked out of my room to find my mother waiting for me, a new dress in her hands.

"Oh Mother, you didn't have to make me a new dress. It's only the Reaping Day." She smiled anyways and handed me the dress.

"You deserved a new dress. I imagine this must be very stressful for you. Your father is in the kitchen making breakfast. Let's go put your dress on."

I walked back into my room, my mother accompanying me. She helped me get my dress on, which was an emerald green that matched my eyes. She helped French Braid my long, dark brown hair so that in the end, I looked beautiful.

"I wish I could have the time to make you look this way every day." I understood what my mother meant. Ever since I turned ten, I would be out in the gardens from sunrise to sundown. I was so lost in thought that it was only when I heard Mother sigh that I realized it was time to go. It was time to experience my first Reaping.

We walked out of the house together, the sun shining in our eyes. It was a beautiful day, although too beautiful for what was about to happen. Two people in my District, all whom I know, were going to go fight and most likely die. I wasn't friends with anyone, because I get teased too much, but I still don't want to watch them die. Before I knew it, I was right next to the big area, shaded by orange trees, where everyone stood to find out if they were going to die or not.

"Finger." I snapped back out of my thoughts once again, to see a Peacemaker holding her hand out for my finger. I gently put it in her hand, not knowing what was going to happen. Before I could do anything about it, I saw her take a blood sample from my finger and smear it on a sheet of paper, to say that I had come. She shooed me away for the next kid, and I sucked the remaining blood off of my finger as I went to find a spot to stand at in the crowd. I'm not sure how long I stood there before something actually happened. No one came over to talk to me, see how I was doing, or to make sure I was okay or anything, so in my mind, while I was waiting; I pictured the perfect place to live. A place where everyone had enough to eat and drink, no one had to work during the entire day, and a place where the Hunger Games didn't exist.

"Happy Hunger Games everyone!" I looked up at the stage to see our District's escort, Estella Cineatra, standing on the stage, looking around at all of us, seemingly expecting a bunch of cheers and smiles back. Her face was almost pure white, with bright yellow stars tattooed on her face. Her hair was long and black, big curls surrounding her face. In her hair it was made to look as if it was in space, with stars, planets, asteroids, and a lot more. Her dress was covered in the different planets of the solar system, each not in proportion to the other.

"As you all know, this year is a very special year for those two lucky people who go to the Hunger Games! And, in honor of it being our twenty-fifth anniversary, we're changing things up a bit." A crowd of whispers overtook the crowd. I just stood in the back, trying to get a better view of the stage. "This year, as you all may notice, there are no bowls containing all of your beautiful names in it." Her voice was laced with sticky sweetness. It made me want to vomit. "This year, the lovely Capitol is allowing you, you lucky children, to determine which two children go to the Hunger Games." Uproar started up in the crowd. No one wanted to send another person to the Hunger Games and die. No one wanted to have the regret of sending them off to stay with them for the rest of their lives. Many angry voices stood out among the children.

"We won't do that!"

"How dare you make us do this?!"  
"No one will make a decision!"

"Might I remind you that if you all don't choose two children, then my... friends… will have to take things into their own hands. I believe you can all see these lovely weapons in their hands, can you not?" The crowd was instantly silenced. "That's better. Now, you have ten minutes to choose. If there is no one on the stage by then, then you all will get a very nice chance to meet my friends." She promptly turned on her heels, and began walking away into the darkness, her shoes clicking away into the silence.

10.

Bates, one of the only seventeen year olds that could possibly enter the Hunger Games, stood up. "I know that we don't want to do this, but we have to think logically. What do you think is better, two people go, one possibly stays alive, or we all die?" More uproar began. Some insults were sent out to him because they believed that he _wanted _to send two people off to their death.

9.

"Calm down people. Now I know this is going to be extremely painful, both mentally and physically, but we have to do it. We only have a couple of minutes left to do this before we all die. Now, I'm assuming no one will volunteer? If not, then I will. Just because I know I can stand a chance in the arena, and it makes things a lot easier."

8.

"What about the girls? We need someone. Come on, just shout out a name. We need at least two to choose from."

7.

"Melissa! Melissa Jones! She's smart, so she could last a bit longer in it!" I turned to my left to see Austin, a boy about thirteen years old, pointing to Melissa. I liked Melissa. She was really nice to everyone, and always smiled at me when she passed by.

6.

Melissa walked up to the stage, hands and legs shaking. I felt bad for Melissa. It must be terrifying to be up there. I don't know who I would volunteer. I couldn't morally do it.

"Come on people, we only need one more person!"

5.

Silence. Silence for a minute.

4.

"Guys we're running out of time! Here, Melissa, you choose someone. Quickly. Now. Do it before we all die."

3.

Melissa thought for a minute. I was shaking myself during that minute, because we were all facing our imminent death.

2.

I saw Melissa's arm shakily rise and point in my general direction. I assumed it wasn't me, only because no one knew me. "Violet. Violet Langston." My heart stopped. I couldn't formulate the idea that I was about to possibly go to the Hunger Games. My legs somehow started moving up towards the stage, not knowing anything that was about to happen.

1.

"Alright, we've got two people up here! Show of hands by who wants to send Melissa to the Hunger Games!" I saw a lot of hands go up. I silently prayed that there were more than what would go up for me.

"Okay, I've got a basic idea of how many people want her to leave. Now, hands for Violet?" I closed my eyes, not wanting to see the people who would send me to my death. "It's settled then. Melissa, go over to your family. Violet, come with me." I couldn't believe what I just heard. I hear my mother scream a sound of pure terror and heartbreak. I saw my father take her into his arms, her crying into his arms. Since Bates parent's died in an accident a couple years ago, no one was there to mourn him. Stone faced, he looked down into my face. I could see his eyes soften, when he saw how terrified I was. Taking my hand, he led me into the darkness.


	2. My Killer Competition

The darkness slowly faded to light, and I could see Estella standing in front of me, accompanied by two Peacemakers.

"Oh goody goody! Two beautiful and lucky tributes get to go to the Hunger Games! You two can go now." I thought she was talking to us at first, but then saw her shoo away the Peacemakers. "Now, what are your names?

"Bates." As he said his name, he straightened up to his full height.

"Wonderful… you seem like a winner. And what about you, little.. um.." She trailed off. I don't think she knew where she was going with her sentence. Or any sentence for that matter.

"Violet." I stared into Estella's eyes, which looked like there were stars instead of the normal little black dot. I sighed, thinking that our escort was a complete nut job.

"Violet! Now that's a pretty name. You'll like Sapphy. She's just like you, small and everything!"

Sapphy was one of our only mentors. She had won the previous Hunger Games by hiding until she needed food or water, and then she would go back to her hiding spot. The Gamekeepers found that a bit boring though, because they had an earthquake right where she was hiding, so she was forced to move until she reached the Cornucopia, for fear that something would fall on her. It was there that she was met with the other three tributes left, and had to fight. Turns out she was quite good with throwing knives. That's how she won too. She ran and hid in the Cornucopia until she was left with one other tribute from District 2, after he had killed the other tributes in the small blood bath. She killed him by staying hidden until she saw him, which is when she threw five knives at him, all hitting either his head or his chest. He was dead before he hit the ground. She seemed a little shaken by it though, and doesn't talk to many people in our district.

Estella led us to different rooms where we were allowed to say goodbye to anyone who wants to for an hour. Then we were off to the Capitol. Or, as I like to think, off to our death.

The first group of people through the door was my mom and dad. They ran to me, and I was embraced in a hug for what seemed like eternity. I never wanted to pull away, but I had to.

"Violet, I know you can win these games. You're clever and fast. You will survive. You have to survive. I believe in you." My dad was wiping a couple tears away as he said that. When I saw them, I started to cry a little bit too, but quickly wiped them away. I didn't want my parents to see me so broken down emotionally.

The Peacekeepers came in and took my parents away. "I love you!" I yelled to them as the door closed. I saw my mother's eyes glistening with tears, but also whispering _I love you_ at the same time. I didn't expect anyone else to come in, so I huddled in the corner to try and deal with my thoughts. I wasn't sitting there for long though, because another person walked through the door. It was Melissa, the girl who ultimately sent me to the Hunger Games.

"Hi. I'm really sorry you're going. I didn't mean for you to go." Her voice was quiet, almost ashamed to be facing me. I slowly turned to her and stared at her before speaking.

"Why me? Why me, of all the people you could send away? What have I ever done to you?" I watched as she put her head in her hands.

"Because I knew if I went I would die. I knew if you went you would live. You also deserve to be treated better. When you come back you won't be picked on anymore. You won't be bullied. But most of all, you'll have survived the games." I sat in silence as I stared at her. "Maybe when you come back, we can be friends." I only responded with silence once again. Maybe I was still mad at her for choosing me. Maybe I was a little shocked by the idea that she thought I could actually win the Games. I was so caught up in my thoughts that I didn't even realize that she had left, and that it was time to go.

I took one last look of my District, my beautiful District filled with all sorts of trees, flowers, and just beauty in general as I boarded the train with Bates. Bates and I were allowed to do whatever we wanted for about thirty minutes before we had to watch all of the Reapings. I decided to take a nice, hot shower before I saw anyone again. I took off all my clothes and stepped into the shower. There were a lot of buttons, each doing different things. I had fun figuring out what each of them did, and when I stepped out I smelled a lot like a garden. I stepped over to the dryer and pushed the start button, and within a matter of seconds I was completely dry. That's when I heard a knock on my door. It was Estella, telling me it was time for me to watch the other Reapings.

District One had both tributes be volunteers. The first, Astrita, had long, dark brown hair that went down to her lower back. Her hair shaded her face, so that we couldn't see much of it. We could see her eyes though. She had cornflower blue eyes that seemed hungry for blood. Her height could be used as an advantage; when I first saw her I didn't see her, being as short and thin as she was. That could be fatal in the Games. She seemed intelligent too, which was not a good combination for a fifteen year old; intelligence and blood hungry. The other tribute was Terrence, a tall, muscular boy who looked about sixteen. He seemed eager to go into the Hunger Games, as most District One tributes are.

District Two had one tribute volunteer, the girl named Hazel. She had, well, hazel eyes and short brown hair. She seemed a little less eager than someone from District Two going into the Hunger Games than I expected. The girl she volunteered for looked just like her, so I'm assuming it was her sister. The boy's name was Edward, and was very well-built. By the glares he was giving everyone, you could tell that he wouldn't let anyone volunteer for him. That and he would most likely be the leader of the Career pack.

District Three's boy tribute didn't impress me at all. He was kind of average; light brown hair, medium height, medium thickness. He probably wouldn't last that long in the Games. Maybe a day or so. The girl however, she was a bit different. Cassandra was tall and had black curly hair that was in a braid with one strand loose, shaping her face. Her serpent green eyes were slightly covered by her black square rimmed glasses, standing out a lot from her pale skin. I made a mental note to myself to watch out for her.

District Four had two very intimidating looking tributes. Daniel, the boy tribute, was very tall and athletic looking. His sea-green eyes seemed to taunt me by saying_ I'll come find you. Then I'll kill you. I will win these games._ The girl, Brittney, was short and very thin. Her eyes scanned the crowd, daring someone to volunteer. She didn't seem as strong as her partner, but seemed incredibly intelligent. I could already tell that she would be a very strong opponent to beat, with her working together with the Careers.

District Five's tributes both looked like an average person; terrified of being in the Games. Both from the fourteen year old group, Rosetta and Lucas both seemed as if they would be gone within the first couple of days. _Just like me_ I thought.

District Six had a taller boy with black hair and a short girl with red hair. The taller boy's muscles seemed to bulge beneath his shirt. The girl, Lyla, seemed like a sweet girl. She was short with light blond hair that went down to her shoulders. She was dressed in a light blue dress that made her look as if she couldn't hurt a fly. Some instinct inside of me told me to become allies with her. I made another mental note to see what she was capable of during the Training. Even though they're not from a regular Career district, I feel like Cristoff, the boy, will make it into the Career group.

District Seven's tributes both made quite an event of going up to the stage. The first, Rosetta, volunteered for her baby sister. The Peacekeepers had to pry her away from Clarissa, her sister, and practically drag her up to the stage as she was in tears. The boy, Karl, started screaming when he heard his name called. The Peacekeepers had to drag him up to the stage as well. I don't think he ever stopped screaming. When it came time for them to shake hands, he was only huddled up in a ball. I liked Rosetta. I wouldn't mind becoming allies with her either. The boy however, I feel like will definitely die in the bloodbath.

District Eight had two boring tributes. They walked up to the stage, Annaleise and Josef, shook hands, and faced the crowd with tears in their eyes. Just like the rest of us, I suppose. Their physical features were very plain; both of them had light brown hair and blue eyes. They looked as if they could be siblings, and then I realized that they were. They both shared the last name Carsona. I felt instantly bad for them.

District Nine's tributes were both tall and thin, with almost white hair that went fairly well against their pale skin. The girl, Lamb, had very soft blue eyes. She seemed incredibly underfed, and looked as if she probably wouldn't be able to pick up anything heavier than five pounds. The boy, Augustus, looked a bit better in terms of how well-fed he was, but looked rather bored with the fact that he got picked. He also started laughing quietly to himself. I feared that he was starting to go crazy.

District Ten had a very interesting group of people in it. For starters, the two people Reaped were also siblings. They were twin siblings. The mother broke down in tears when she realized that both of her children were being sent away. Isaac and Sandy both were short and had cropped dark brown hair. Their eyes looked as big as the cows that were behind them. I also suspected that they would die quickly.

When the time came for District Eleven to have people be chosen, I turned away. I couldn't bear to see myself get chosen in front of everyone. I didn't want to relive the nightmare. Bates offered his arm for me to bury my head in as he gave my shoulder a gentle squeeze. He seemed a lot like a big brother to me, like he sympathized with me a lot.

It had been a really tiring day, and when District Twelve came on, and I think I had fallen asleep on Bates' arm. He gently woke me up when the Reapings were all over so that I could eat food. He told me that the District Twelve tributes were both kind of scrawny and wouldn't last that long.

The Capitol food was the best I have ever eaten. In our District, I would be lucky if I could get some chicken to eat. I lived mostly off of the almost bad pieces of fruit that we picked; we wouldn't want the Mayor and his family to get sick, now would we? The course started off with a baked potato soup, which I easily ate two bowls of. I would've eaten more, but Bates quietly told me that there was more food coming and that I should save my appetite. The next course that came out was this chicken in some sort of an orange sauce. It tasted amazing. I took little bites out of this course, trying to savor as much of the taste as I possibly could. After that came the dessert. The people dressed in white brought out a gorgeous chocolate cake; it was on a pedestal, had chocolate dripping off of it, and had little shavings decorating it. On top of the cake were also flowers made out of chocolate, which I immediately claimed. I ate two big pieces of the cake, and then realized that if I ate any more I would become sick. The Capitol food was so rich that I wasn't used to it quite yet.

I quietly excused myself as I went to my room. Changing into a silk nightgown, I realized I still hadn't met my mentor yet. I wondered where she was. I guess she didn't want to see the next pair of kids that she would send to their death with false hope quite yet. I turned off the light and slowly fell asleep, to only have a nightmare overcome my body, terrifying me to death.

**A/N: So, how'd you like it? Sorry for the long time since I've updated; I've had a lot to do with school. You know the drill. Read and review please! Thanks! I love all of you that are reading this!**

**~Alex :D**


	3. Welcome to the Capitol

In my dream I was sitting in a tree, all alone. All of a sudden a hand was placed over my mouth, my arms and legs were forcibly broken, and I was then pushed out of the tree. I was falling, and once I hit the ground I could hear my own cannon go off.

I sat up with a jolt. I was breathing heavily, glad that I was still alive. I knew I wouldn't be able to fall back asleep again, so I walked out of my room and into the dining compartment. I saw two people sitting at a table, seemingly in an argument. They didn't notice me at first, so I just stood where I was and tried to listen to what they were saying.

"The girl won't last five minutes in the Games, and you know that Sapphy." The boy that was talking was a previous Victor from the thirteenth games. His name was Connor.

"Connor, you don't even know her. No one else thought I was going to survive either, and here I am! Alive! Why don't you ever put any faith into our tributes? It's about time that we bring someone home. District Eleven hasn't had a Victor in so long. I think this year should be the year where we bring one back."

"I've told you before; I do have a tiny sliver of trust in one of our tributes, just not the girl. She'll die. She's useless! She can't even help that much in our own District! I say just let her die and focus on Bates." Wow. That hurt a little.

"Connor, do you hear yourself? Do you not realize how you're acting? You're willing to just let one innocent girl die, all because you're too selfish to even consider her!"

"I don't care what you think! You're not seeing the bigger picture here! If we waste all of our money trying to save her and she dies, then we're done! No chance at even bringing home a Victor! Because she. Will. Die. End of story."

It was after he finished his sentence, he seemed to realize I was standing there. I quickly reached up and wiped away a couple of tears that escaped my eyes. I'm not even sure why though; he was only speaking the truth. Deep inside me I knew that I was going to die, but I just hadn't accepted it yet.

"Oh I didn't see you there… um…" Connor seemed very flustered. I could hear Sapphy whisper my name to him. "Violet! Sorry. Didn't see you there Violet. Sapphy and I were just discussing the Games and what tactics we should use. Care to join us?"

"If by tactics you mean just flat out killing me then yeah, I heard you. I don't want to ever speak to you again you cold-hearted person. Or are you even a person? Because a real human-being wouldn't just kill off a girl before she even knew them. I'm leaving now. I don't care at all what you think about me anymore, because you're just as bad of a person as the President is." I could hear the iciness of my words as I was speaking them. I turned and ran back to my room. I knew we would be arriving at the Capitol soon, and I didn't want to deal with what they had thought about me without telling anyone. I quietly walked over to Bates room and opened his door. His back was to me, staring at the projected picture of our District. Our home.

"Hey Violet."  
I was surprised. I hadn't expected Bates to hear me come in his room; My footsteps were really light as I entered his room.

"Hi Bates. Can I talk to you?" He nodded and I sat down on the bed next to him. I explained all of what I had heard to him and how much it had hurt me. All while I was explaining it he nodded his head. I don't think Bates liked talking that much. He was probably really busy planning how he was going to win the Hunger Games.

"I think you have a chance." His deep voice was somehow quiet, but at the same time making a big impact on me.

"You do?" He only nodded in response. "Wow. Thank you Bates. It means a lot to me."

He nodded again, and looked out of the window of his room. "We'll be in the Capitol soon. Better go in the main room to wave and get sponsors." I nodded back, not wanting to leave the comfort of the train.

We walked out together, and when we got into the main compartment I completely ignored Connor, no matter how much he tried to apologize, he would never make up for what he said. I was willing to talk to Sapphy though, only because she was defending me.  
"So Violet! I hope we can… move on from what you heard earlier." I nodded and looked down at my feet. I didn't want to look into her ocean blue eyes so she could see how much pain I was still in.

"Is there any weapon that you're particularly good at?" I could tell that she was trying to be extra nice with me right now. Under normal circumstances I would have hated her for it, but for now I was fine with it.

"Well, I'm sort of good with a spear. And a slingshot. I'm also fast and small. I can hide from people fairly well."

Sapphy nodded. "That's good. I'm assuming you also know a lot about plants, seeing that you're from District Eleven." I nodded back. "That's really good then. It'll give you a huge advantage in the Games. Most of the people died in my games by eating or smelling poisonous plants. Now, a bigger question is, do you want to be in an alliance with Bates?" I looked over at him, who was seemingly working with Connor.  
"I would, but I don't want to make him die because of me. It's really up to him." At that moment I started hearing screams and yelling from outside of the train. I ran over to the window to see what it was, and saw that we had arrived at the Capitol. It was truly beautiful; it looked so much more different from my home that I felt as if I could look at it forever. The people, however, were quite an eyesore. All of the colors and alterations that people put on them made them look as if they weren't even human. However, I knew that they would be the key to my survival, as I would need as many sponsors as possible to help me. I smiled and waved, trying to make myself as cute as possible. I think I would try and go for the innocent girl angle while in the Games. Make people think as if I'm weak and then strike. I got so caught up in waving that I even blew some kisses to the people, to which they screamed even louder. The train suddenly stopped, and we were escorted out of the train and into the Training Center. Estella explained on the way what would happen next. We would be taken to our stylists and prepped for the chariot rides. We would go out, somehow impress the people by doing whatever it takes because we aren't from the Career Districts, and then come back to our floor. Bates and I nodded and did as we were told; there weren't many decisions that weren't already made for us to do. I was taken away to my prep station, and I sat on a metal table in silence. There was a mirror in there that let me see my entire body and how I looked. I had never had a full length mirror back home; I could only use the little rivers that appeared after a bad storm. I walked over to it. In the mirror I saw a young, terrified looking girl. I was interrupted by my thoughts to hear a pair of people come into my room. They were definitely a very… interesting group of people to be around. They had me lie on the table and take off my robe as they put some hot, sticky stuff on my legs. I wasn't sure what they were going to do, and I felt uncomfortable enough already without any clothes on, but they put a piece of paper on and ripped the hair off of my legs. I screeched. Instantly my legs felt as if they were on fire, and my prep team only did it again and again, removing all of the hair from my body. The one in charge's name was Sylvanthia, and she had short, light purple hair that had jewels embellished all throughout it. Her skin was a bright orange, and she had on what looked like a big, multi-colored sphere. The one holding me down while they took all the hair off of my legs was named Flourenia. Her hair was a bright pink, along with her head and neck being a soft pink. The rest of her body was a light green, with vine tattoos all along her arms, legs and face. She had a big oversized daisy tilted on her head. Her dress, bright pink with very poofy shoulders, had vines and daisies attached to it. Her eyes were a bright blue, seemingly bored with holding me down.

"Oh come _on _Violet it doesn't hurt that much! Just stop whining about it. After this we get to make you look beautiful, especially with the help of Syra!"

I shut my mouth and held back the little shrieks, no matter how much it hurt. I tried to be strong for my prep team. I knew that they would have to do a lot of work to make me look presentable. They plucked my eyebrows, painted my nails a pretty shade of pink, applied a light amount of makeup, and washed my hair to the point that it shined. They left, leaving me alone to try and think of what Syra would look like and what she would do to me for the chariot rides. I've seen what some of the other tributes have worn in the past, and I know for a fact my mother would never let me wear what they had to wear for sponsors.

I started thinking about what life would be like without the Hunger Games. I pictured the perfect world again, except this time there were flowers everywhere. I didn't even notice when someone else walked into the room.

"Oh great. Another twelve-year old. I absolutely hate having to dress up twelve-year olds. They won't let me do _anything _to them." I looked over and saw a fairly short person standing there. I couldn't tell if my stylist was a boy or a girl, and I decided it would be best if I didn't ask which it was. Its hair was shaved on the side of its head, the rest of its hair flipped over. Its hair was a tealish color. Its skin was tan, however it had a slight metallic look to it. Syra had two tattoos; one was a very swirly tattoo, going from its neck and a little bit further down from its shoulder. The other one was a teal wing-like tattoo around its eye. Syra's make-up was much exaggerated, and its lips were blue.

"What are you looking at?"

I realized that it was waiting for me to finish looking so that I could get ready for the chariot rides.

"Oh.. um.. nothing."  
"Riiight. Nothing. I understand. Now get over here, I need to show you what incredibly time-taking thing I made for you." Its sassiness was incredibly strong. I got the impression that Syra didn't like this job that much. I slowly walked over to where she was standing. Next to Syra was a mannequin that had a cloth draped over it.

Syra lifted the cloth.

I couldn't believe what I saw.

**A/N: Hey guys! So, I've only had one review so far :( that makes me **_**really **_**sad. I know it's only the third chapter, but a couple more reviews would be nice! So, I'm not going to post until one other person reviews. All that I ask is that you review! You, the person reading this right now! Don't leave it to someone else to do, because then no one will end up reviewing and I will be very sad. Sorry for the long Author's note. Read and review! Spread the fanfic! :D**

**-Alex**


	4. Butterflies at the Tribute Parade

On the mannequin was a practically beautiful dress. It was orange and black, little black jewels woven into the fabric wherever the black pattern was. The pattern was made to look as if it was a monarch butterfly; I remember how every year there was a flood of butterflies that visited us. I'm not exactly sure if it was normal, but all in all it's beautiful. The dress itself was short, the bottom part all ruffley. It was strapless, and the shoes that went along it were just simple ballet flats. It was beautiful. And to top it off, there was a pair of butterfly wings for me to wear with the dress.

I turned to Syra in astonishment. "It's… beautiful. How did you know that butterflies came to our district? What does Bates' look like? Is he going to be a butterfly as well?"

Syra looked bored with me. "You stupid girl, I used to _live _in District Eleven. I moved to the Capitol when I was three. This was before the Hunger Games started, so we were allowed to move freely. Bates doesn't look like a butterfly; I think he's more of a flower of some sort. Now hurry up and get it on, I'm sure the Capitol people are just _dying _to see you." All of Syra's words had a sense of sarcasm when spoken. I realized that it probably was going to get mad at me, considering all of my questions. I silently pulled the dress up, and looked at myself in the mirror. I didn't look like I was twelve anymore; I looked as if I was sixteen, maybe seventeen.

"Hello? Girl? Girl. Come on. Time to go." Syra snapped me out of my trance. I looked at it, to only see that Syra had a list of some sort in its hand. "Let's see… dress. Check. Wings. Check. Make-up. Check. Tell girl about the 'great idea' her mentor had. Not check. Oh yeah. You and Bates are now going to act all brotherly and sisterly with each other for sponsors. Now check. That's everything, thank goodness. I'm out of here. Just walk out of here and your mentors will take you to wherever you need to go. Have fun." Syra then sashayed to the door. I don't think I'll ever know if Syra was a boy or a girl.

I walked out of the prep room and found myself face to face with Estella. "Oh my stars you took forever!" She seemed angry, but I wasn't intimidated by her with her annoying Capitol voice. "Hurry up and go over there. Bates is waiting for you. You've seen the Tribute Parade before, I presume?" I nodded. "Good. Now Bates and you have sibling love towards each other. Got it?" I nodded again. "Good. Now get out of here. You're going to make me late, and I absolutely positively _hate _being late for things!" I quickly walked away, my wings fluttering behind me. I heard Estella shout out something as I was leaving, but all I could get from it was "So don't be frightened!"

Our chariot was decorated with a bunch of flowers, butterflies and a bunch of other things relating to our District. We were going to be second to last in the parade, so it gave me a chance to see all of the different outfits for the other kids.

District One's girl, Astrita, was dressed in a pink, ballerina type dress with pink and green jewels woven into it. Her hair, still shading her face, was glittered with the same jewels. Her shoes had the same jewels decorating the heel, so that no matter what angle she was at she was sparkling. Her partner was dressed in the same fashion, just with opposite base colors and wearing a tuxedo.

District Two was wearing gray and silver decorated outfits. Shining, they were wearing big headpieces that consisted of a bunch of irregular shapes woven together, both big and small. I think they were supposed to represent the rocks that they find. Either way, they looked incredibly good. I knew that the sponsors would go crazy about them.

District Three's outfits consisted of a suit and dress that were seemingly made out of circuit boards. They looked really cool. Cassandra's matching wire jewelry went so well with her dress that I knew she had a great stylist.

District Four went with what usually happens, as they were dressed as if they were mermaids and mermen. Daniel was holding a trident that I knew would be his weapon in the Games. I was terrified of them, but at the same time couldn't help but admire how beautiful their costumes and chariots looked. Somehow their stylist managed to dress the horses up to make them look like their chariot was being pulled by seahorses.

District Five's tributes were dressed as light bulbs, but their stylist didn't do that great of a job when putting it together. Their outfits were obviously too big for them, as if the stylist didn't take into consideration their measurements while making them. The colors were also a little boring. I didn't think they would impress the sponsors that much.

District Six had tributes dressed as conductors. Generally, the idea of a conductor's outfit would not be that attractive. Somehow their stylist managed to make them form-fitting and actually kind of… cute. Lyla looked even more adorable and innocent than she had on her Reaping day, when everyone nominated her to go.

District Seven's tributes weren't dressed in anything that impressive, but it was their reactions that were the best. The girl was crying, and the boy was screaming his head off. I would have thought he would have stopped by now. They were dressed in tree outfits, as usual.

District Eight had quilt parkas on them, not doing much for appearances, as the colors were red, white and blue. Every part of them was somehow covered in those colors. Their stylist must have been either very nostalgic about how life was before the Rebellion (my mother told me about that once when I was a little girl), or didn't have that much effort put into the costumes.

District Nine and Ten hardly fazed me. Nine was dressed up as grain (the boy was still laughing to himself. I really was worried about him) and Ten was dressed up as cows. I felt bad for Ten. They must have felt incredibly embarrassed about their outfits. Isaac had an udder right where his… well in a spot that I'm sure he probably would not have chosen to put an udder.

I wasn't able to get a good look at Twelve, but I'm assuming they were just going as coal miners again. Covered in all black, they really wouldn't get many sponsors. They never do. It's a little depressing, actually. I made a silent vow to help them out if I got a chance to, only because no one else would.

I heard a loud voice call out "The chariot started moving. Bates looked down at me, his face full of questioning. _Are you okay? Ready for this? What are you thinking?_ I just shrugged him off and shone all of the sponsors my smile. As we rode along my wings were flapping as if I was flying down to the President instead of riding in a chariot. At one point during the ride I started blowing kisses to the people. They went wild. The Capitol people tried to "catch" them, and some even blew kisses back. It was almost sickening about how crazy these people were about the Games.

Once my chariot reached about halfway down the runway towards President Snow, I felt something release behind me. I turned around to look, that fake smile still on my face, and saw what looked like a hundred butterflies, _actual _butterflies. I couldn't believe my eyes. That's when I realized that's what Syra was trying to warn me about. I wasn't scared at all; if anything, I loved them. They seemed like a crack of light in the darkness that others know of as the Hunger Games.

The crowd went wild for the butterflies. I don't think there's ever been an animal… err insect release during the Tribute Parade before. The butterflies were everywhere, but not so much that you couldn't see anything. They were making the whole thing beautiful. Bates and I hugged for the crowd, trying to go for the brother-sister effect, and it worked. The Capitol people all started screaming in excitement. I smiled and waved more, blew some more kisses, "caught" kisses that were flung back at me, and eventually finished our circle around.

I could hear Caesar Flickerman's comments as we went on in the Tribute Parade. "District Eleven everyone! Wait, what's this? It's an arrangement of butterflies! Don't be alarmed people! They're harmless! And here comes District Twelve!"

I was grateful that the parade was over. I wanted to just go up to my room and go to sleep, pretend like this wasn't real. So that's exactly what I did. I stripped off my clothes and put on a nice, silky nightgown that I found in one of the drawers. I didn't want to go down to dinner, but I still needed to eat something. My eyes scanned around the room until I found a strange looking device seemingly built into the wall. I pushed a button and heard an electronic voice come out.

"_Hello. What would you care to eat today?"_

I was stunned. I didn't know what to do, so I just said the first thing that came to mind. I didn't even consider the fact that the computer probably wouldn't know what I was talking about.

"Um. My mom's beef stew that we have in wintertime." I heard a small _ding! _and all of a sudden I saw it sitting right there in front of me. I couldn't believe my eyes; imagine what it would be like if we could have this sort of food _all _the time. I quickly gulped down my stew, which tasted almost as good as the kind my mom makes, and went straight to bed. Considering I would be going into the Training Center tomorrow with no clue as to what I would be doing, I needed all of the sleep I could get. I was terrified of going into the Training Center with all of the people around. I had a feeling I wouldn't be very good at things and people would judge me on that. That could work in my favor though, if people just ignored me in the Games because I might die off quickly. I went to sleep almost instantly, my mind still running with what I would be facing the next day.

**A/N: Hi! Thanks for bearing with me. School ends soon, so then I'll probably be able to update more frequently. I wanted to give a huge shout out to HungerGamesFan1999 and .355. They reviewed, so this chapter is dedicated to you guys! You also know the drill… read and review! Tell your friends about it! Thanks!**

**Alex **


	5. Training Sessions

The Training room was enormous. In there was anything from swordplay to knot-tying. I had decided that each day I would dedicate it to something different; for example, today I would focus on the survival stations. Tomorrow I'll work on weaponry, and then the last day of training I'll work on my agility. I felt like that would be the most logical thing to do. I would also be looking for any potential allies to make, because I decided with Sapphy that working alone wouldn't be practical, because there's safety in numbers. Bates and I have already decided to work together and split up once there were ten tributes left, assuming we lasted that long. And by us, he pretty much meant me.

I decided to start off with the edible plants station. Being from District Eleven, I aced all of the tests that the instructor had prepared for us. I went there just to brush up on my memory. I recognized almost all of the plants and berries and could quickly identify which were deadly and which were safe to eat. I was also taught a little bit about the medicinal qualities of some of the plants. I felt like this was incredibly useful information, being that medicine was expensive to send to tributes, and I wouldn't have that many sponsors. I thanked the instructor for teaching me about the plants and everything and moved on to the next station.

I was only able to get one more station done before it was time for lunch. It turns out that I was horrible at fire starting, and felt like that was a possible life-saving thing I should learn. With that in mind, I had spent the rest of my time there until I felt like I had completely mastered the art of fire-making. I could now successfully set up a fire pit, start it with matches, flint rock, or stick, and could keep it going for however long I wanted it to last for. I hadn't even realized how quickly time had passed until I heard the lunch break bell sound.

I quickly grabbed my food (a turkey sandwich with oranges and a side of banana pudding) and chose an unoccupied table. I quickly started in on my food, and was absorbed in thought. I hadn't even realized that Bates joined me at the table until he cleared his throat, looking at me as if expecting an answer. Evidently I was nodding along to what he was saying without even realizing it.

"I'm sorry, but what did you say? I didn't quite catch that."

Bates chuckled. "I didn't think you did. I was asking if you wanted to make any more allies, or if you just wanted it to be us."

I thought back to the other Districts' Reapings. I remembered the few that I had made mental notes of to see if they wanted to be allies. "Actually, yes, I do. I wouldn't mind it if we could be allies with the girl from District Six and the girl from District Seven. Any others that you would want in our group?"

He nodded, pondering my two choices. "I was thinking about asking Cristoff to join our group. You know, if the Careers haven't claimed him yet. He seems to be useful."

I agreed with him, and we then decided that I would invite the girls over the next three days and he would invite Cristoff. We would discuss either our successes or failures each night. Lunch ended and I continued my course of survival stations.

I went over to the camouflage station and found myself alone with the girl from District Six. Lyla. I hid behind a tree, hoping that she didn't see me. I started painting myself to blend in with a bed of flowers, and once I was satisfied I waited until Lyla walked over to where I was hiding.

"Hi Lyla!" I saw Lyla jump, and then looked around for who was talking to her. "Down here." I watched her head slowly move downwards, her eyes scanning the patch of flowers for the voice. I watched until her eyes landed on mine. She laughed, and helped me up.

"Hi! It's Violet, right?" I nodded. "That's really good camouflage. Where'd you learn how to do stuff like that?"

I shrugged. I honestly had no idea myself. "I dunno. I just like painting, and I guess flowers are easy for me to paint. But anyways! I was wondering if you wanted to be in an alliance with me and Bates, my District partner."

Lyla nodded vigorously. I suspected that no one else had asked her yet. "I would love that. Cristoff hasn't asked me yet if he wants to be in an alliance with me or not. I'm still not sure if he's going to team up with the Careers, be alone, or with someone else."

I smiled. "I know Bates was going to ask him to join the alliance sometime in the next couple of days. I guess we'll just have to see what happens. In the meantime, want to work a little bit more on camouflage and then move on to another station?" Lyla nodded. It turned out that I was really good at it, and Lyla was pretty decent at it as well. We decided that shelter would be a good thing to also learn about, so for an hour we set up a variety of shelters, some consisting of branches, leaves, finding random spots in the 'forest' that was set up, and other miscellaneous things. By the end of the day we also went to the knot tying station, snares, and water purification. Lyla and I said goodbye, and then split up to go to our rooms. I met up with Bates and told him that I had successfully gotten Lyla into the alliance. He said that he hadn't had a chance to meet up with Cristoff yet.

The next day I had told myself that I had to get as skilled as possible with as many weapons as I could. Lyla said she was going to stick with the survival stations again, and then do agility training with me the last day. I tried to avoid the stations that the Careers weren't focused on, which turned out to be fairly easy. They traveled in a pack, moving from one weapon station to the next. I started off with the bow and arrows, and found out that I have no skill whatsoever with it. I practiced until I was okay with them, and decided to move on to the next station. I would come back to them if I had enough time at the end of the day.

I was okay with a spear, at least in close range. I was too weak at the moment to be able to heave the heavy spear to the dummies that were farther away. However, I kept on practicing until I was able to spear the spot where the hearts of the dummies would be in close and medium range on the first or second throw.

It was at the knife-throwing station that I was finally encountered by the Careers. I had been too careless, and hadn't noticed that they were already there. Before I could back away, the seeming leader of the group, Edward, noticed me and a smirk came upon his face.

"Whatcha doin' here, little girl? Tryin' to see if you're better than us at knives? Astrita over here could kill you more ways than your little head could think of with knives." Astrita smiled a cruel smile, and as if to prove Edward's point, threw a knife with almost impossible speed at a dummy across the room. It landed in the middle of its throat, instant death to a human.

"N-n-no, this was a-a-a mistake. I j-j-just wanted to, to see if I was o-o-okay with knives or not." I didn't know why I was stuttering. I think that the Career group was really starting to intimidate me, whether I wanted it or not.

"Well then butterfly girl, go ahead and show us just how good you are with them." Daniel mockingly made everyone move out of the way so that I could walk over to the knives. I picked up a small knife, tried to get a feel of it in my hands, and threw it. The blade landed on the dummy's arm. The Careers laughed, making me blush. I picked up an even smaller blade and threw it again. This time it landed right where I wanted it to go; in the dummy's heart. I threw knives again and again, each time throwing them even farther than the one before. I realized that I had gathered a bit of a group that was watching me throw knives, a talent that I wasn't aware of before. When I had one knife left, I threw it to the farthest dummy, angled just right so that it hit the middle of its forehead, making a slight _thud_ as it hit. I turned back to Astrita, who looked so furious that I was a bit worried that I was going to die even before the Games started.

In the middle of the group that formed I saw Rosetta, her soft blue eyes standing out from the crowd. I quickly left, seeing the Careers having to hold Astrita back from lunging at me as I walked past them. I was all out of knives, a bit embarrassed from making that big of a deal during my Training, and besides, it was time for lunch.

I got my lunch and sat down at a table. I saw Rosetta looking for an empty table and waved her over. She seemed grateful for the offer. She sat down without saying a word, just a smile. I sensed that she was really shy.

"So… just breaking the silence over here, but want to be in an alliance with Bates and Lyla and me?"

Rosetta nodded. "I'm not sure what I can bring to the alliance though. All I can do is set up snares decently."

"That's great though! It'll help us a ton." I explained to her about how we were going to try and get Cristoff to join our group.

She looked really nervous at the mention of his name. When I asked her why, she just muttered, "Oh…um… nothing… he just kind of... scares me." I decided not to ask anything else. At that point, it was time to get back to training.

For the next couple of hours I tackled as many weapons as possible. Tridents, slingshots, bow and arrow (again, without much difference), dart gun, even hand to hand combat. By the end of the day I was completely ready to go to sleep. I wearily told Bates about how Rosetta joined our alliance. He told me how he still didn't get a chance to talk to Cristoff, but he would make sure to do it the next day. Something bothered me at the back of my mind, but I was too tired to pursue it. I fell asleep almost instantly.

The next day I almost had to drag myself out of bed. It was agility day, and I had to be prepared to get in the best shape of my life. My first task, along with Lyla's, would be to tackle the obstacle course. Hopefully by the end of the day my time will have improved.

It proved easier said than done.

We worked incredibly hard to build up speed and strength. We raced each other numerous times, hoping to beat the other. When it came to rope climbing, I took down Lyla easily from my job back at home. When it came time for lunch all of us sat together, not really speaking. Rosetta was just shy, and Lyla and I were trying to stop our lungs from exploding. Bates joined us at one point and told us Cristoff would tell us at the end of the day if he would join our alliance or not. That nagging feeling came back to my mind again. Before I could ask Bates about Cristoff, lunch was over and he was heading over to the sword station. Sighing, I stood up, with Lyla right beside me.

We both trained hard to the point where we had to take a break from agility to go back over to the camouflage station, just to make sure our limbs had a chance to recover from the serious workout they were experiencing. I was just about done with painting Lyla and myself into a tree when I overheard Cristoff talking to Astrita, the Career from District One. I motioned to Lyla to close her eyes and to not say a sound. I watched as she blended into the tree. I did the same, except strained my ears to listen to their conversation.

"What's with you and that loser alliance group? You should _totally _dump them and join us Careers. I would absolutely _love _it if you hung out with us!" I don't think Astrita could have been any more obvious about her flirting with Cristoff. I was eager to hear his response.

"I dunno… they seem pretty strong together as a team. But you guys, I mean man you guys are pretty awesome too. I think I'm going to go with them though, no offense to you guys. I also want to stick with my District partner too, you know? I want to protect her. I'm really sorry though."

Astrita looked furious. "Fine then. Go off to your little partner who will get herself killed within the first minute of the Games. I bet she'll fall off the plate and blow herself up. Just watch your back, because you're going to be mine once we catch you. And you won't have a say in anything I do to you." This time her words weren't laced with adoration. They were filled with venom. They left, and Lyla and I decided to talk about it with everyone before the end of the day. We hurried back to the obstacle course and finished it in record time for each other; both of us shaving off about two minutes from our original time.

By the end of the night, I was sore all over. I don't think there was a single muscle in my body that wasn't sore. When Bates and I met before going to sleep that night he told me about how Cristoff decided to join our alliance. In exchange I told me about my overhearing of him and Astrita's conversation.

Bates looked somber. "I guess we have an enemy already."

**A/N: Hey everyone! So sorry about the wait. With babysitting and my summer camp job, I've hardly had time to write! :( And I haven't gotten any more reviews since those two. Does this mean you guys don't like it? And what do you think about Astrita? Or my alliance? Please tell me what you think about it!**

**~Alex**


	6. My Score is Revealed

My heart thumped. I was to go next to get my score. I still wasn't sure what I was going to do in front of the Gamemakers. Not that it matters anyways. I'll probably end up getting something like a four, just because I'm not from a Career District. I'm pretty sure I'm going to show them my knife-throwing skill, but I also wanted to show them something else. I would go with camouflage, but that would take too long. Maybe I could try agility? I can try and tackle the obstacle course again for them, and then throw knives.

"Violet Langston."

I looked up, trying to find the location of the voice when I realized that it was just coming through the speakers. I shot Bates a panicked look, and he gave me a little push towards the door. My legs trembled before me. This is the score that could either guarantee a quick death at the beginning, or a death later on in the Games.

I walked through the doors and found the Training Center to look almost the same, except with fewer things. In the middle of the room was a table with all of the knives you could possibly dream of, length, size, and weight. I quickly located the obstacle course. Unlike yesterday's, this one seemed much more challenging. They didn't have anything like this one yesterday.

I tried to portray calmness, but even as I walked over to the obstacle course I could see my body shaking. I climbed up the ladder and quickly viewed my course. It resembled something along the lines of something you would see at a Peacekeeper training center, with monkey bars, a rope wall, incredibly high walls that you had to either climb or jump over, and pretty much anything in-between. I took a deep breath and began the obstacle course.

It proved to be more difficult than I had planned for. I stumbled only twice, and finished with a decent time of four and a half minutes. My arms and legs sore, I walked numbly over to the knives and picked up the smallest one. I put it in both of my hands, trying to get a good feel of it. I walked over to the spot designated for knife throwing and threw it with as much force as I could towards the one farthest away. It hit the dummy right between the eyes. I continued throwing knives with as many different ones as I could, so that the Gamemakers could see my flexibility with different types of knives.

"You are dismissed."

I looked up to see Rothbury Crane, Head Gamemaker, pretty much shooing me away. I saw that they had a huge steak brought out to each person. I'm assuming they wanted to get as much of us done as soon as possible so that they could enjoy their meat. I bowed and walked out of the room, glad that it was over.

I laid in my bed that night, anxiously waiting for the next day to come so I could find out what my training score was. Did they think I was good at throwing knives? Did they notice my two stumbles in the obstacle course? Were they even paying attention to me, or were they juts focused on their steaks? With these thoughts swarming into my head, I somehow fell into a dreamless sleep.

The next morning I was surprised to see that I was the first person up. Bates seemed to be an early riser, so I wondered what was troubling him. Shrugging the matter off, I headed over to the kitchen to grab some breakfast. As I ate my breakfast, people slowly started trickling into the main room. Connor arrived last out of all of the people, and still avoided my gaze. I'm not sure if I'll ever forgive him for what he said about me. That is, if I live long enough to.

Small chat began, and Bates and I talked about anything that we were going to be up against. We were brainstorming different ideas about what the arena might be this year. A desert? A forest? A frozen wasteland? The possibilities were endless. We also talked about what we did in our sessions. I found out that he demonstrated his abilities with a spear for them. He repeatedly stabbed dummies of any sort until he felt like the Gamemakers were satisfied. As I explained to him what I did, he just sort of nodded.

We moved over to the couch in front of the television, so that we would be ready for when the numbers began. Our Mentors and our Escort, as well as our Prep Teams and Stylists joined us on the couch, talking almost nonstop at whatever went through their minds.

"Did you see what Clasitoria was wearing today? It looked dreadful! She looked like the walking dead!"

"I heard that Lashina was the person responsible for Twelve's horrid outfits this year. Maybe she should take lessons from Farella; her outfits for One are simply to _die _for!"

Suddenly, they were all quieted by the booming sound of the Capitol Anthem.

"_Hello everybody in all of Panem!_" Claudius Templesmith's booming voice sounded to let us know that the scores were going to begin showing soon. For such a young man, he sure did have a loud voice._ "I know you've all been anticipating these numbers, for these are the very first Quarter Quell Tributes! Let's get started. To start off with, Astrita Goldenstein received a nine from the Gamemakers. Followed up with Terrence Steisenburg with a nine as well!_" The Careers performed just as expected. The idle conversation soon bored me, but I was still interested in the numbers. Two had a nine and a ten, Three had a seven and a six, Four had a nine and an eight, Five had two fives, Six had a five and an eight, Seven had two three's, Eight had a three and a two, Nine had a four and a ten, and Ten had a pairing of five's, all scores going boy-girl order. Then it was time for our scores.

"_And let's move on to District Eleven! Starting off with Violet Langston, who received a stunning seven! That's quite a great score for such a young girl! The Careers better watch out for her!_" I let go of a breath that I wasn't even aware of holding. I was stunned that I had received that great of a score. At the same time, I was worried. Now the Careers wouldn't just ignore be because of my small stature; they would hunt me down because of my score. I ignored the congratulations and waited for Cristoff's score. I barely caught it before they moved on to Twelve, which I didn't really need to see; it was pretty evident that they would receive low scores based on their District.

"_Crsitoff Clemmons with a score of…eight! _" I cheered along with everyone else this time, happy that the spotlight was taken off of me. Cristoff just sort of looked at his feet, seemingly embarrassed about his score. I went to bed happier that night, glad that I actually impressed the Gamemakers. Hopefully this would give me at least a slight advantage in the Games; everyone knows that those favored by the Gamemakers always have a bit of luck in the arena.

Today was the big day; the dreaded Interviews. I've never liked being in front of an audience, and the Tribute Parade was a moment of pure terror for me. This time it would just be me, Caesar, and everyone else in the world watching. I think I might die of stage fright before I even go into the Games.

I met up with my Prep Team and Stylist again, with hardly any time to eat breakfast or be by myself. They whisked me away to the world of plucking, painting, cleansing, and anything else that they needed to do to me to make me presentable for Syra. I was a bit nervous to meet it again, only because it didn't seem to like me that much last time. While my Prep Team chattered and walked away, leaving me alone, I decided to try and think of what angle to go with in my Interview. Sapphy suggested innocent. I liked that one. I didn't want to sound cocky or arrogant, but rather sweet and adorable so that I'll be sure to get sponsors, as they'll be what ultimately save me in the end.

"Ugh it's you again! I was hoping I wouldn't have to see you again. I should've just left this stupid thing in the room so that you could dress yourself. Here." It threw me a bag, containing a dress with wings, all white and sparkly. It gave off the appearance of an angelic butterfly, and sparkled whichever direction I was viewed in.

"Oh Syra, this is beautiful! Thank you so much!" I ran forward to hug it, which is promptly when it made a strange noise and looked as awkward as possible. If we were in better circumstances, I think I would've laughed at the face it made.

"Okay girl just get off of me. You are ruining my face. Get off. Now. And let me look at you, because I need to make sure you didn't screw up your outfit by doing whatever you just did. Turn."

I turned.

"You look decent. When it's time for your Interview make sure you try and flap your wings as much as you can when up there. It'll make the people go crazy. You'll give off the effect that you're actually flying up on the stage. As much as you bother me it would be nice to have a Victor from Eleven, only because it's been so long. Now get out of my sight, it think your happiness is overwhelming me. I feel sick." It quickly left, leaving me with only a few precious moments before I would be surrounded by other people. Naturally, Eleven has to wait until pretty much the very end before we can go up, which will leave me a ton of time to panic about my interview. I was soon taken away to a long room where I found Lyla and Rosetta, who looked amazing in their dresses. Lyla was wearing a gorgeous pink and gray dress that complemented her body figure and her skin tone. Rosetta was in a dress that gave the appearance of being made out of roses, and went to about her knees. She even wore a crown that was made out of roses. I think her Stylist had fun with her name this year.

With them we watched all of the other Interviews go on. Most of the Careers went by with a blur, only because they all portrayed the same characteristics; the girls went with either sexy or fierce, and the boys all went with arrogance. I waited with Rosetta as Lyla went up to the stage, who obviously went with the "cutsey" approach. She had the Capitol people wrapped around her finger; they "oohed" and "aahed" whenever she wanted to. Soon after Rosetta left me, going for the mysterious approach, leaving me all alone. I have no idea where Bates went, because I didn't see him anywhere. Perhaps he's talking to some other random Tributes while we wait. I'll never know, because before I knew it my name was called and I had to go up on stage. I wasn't ready yet though. I couldn't possibly do this. This isn't going to just be a couple people; this will be the entire nation watching little old awkward me, trying to fit in with all of these other skilled Tributes. Somehow I forced my legs to walk over to the curtain, where behind it the stage would lie, and ultimately, my worst nightmare; Caesar Flickerman's interviews in front of all of Panem.


	7. The Big Day is Here

"Let's give a huge round of applause for our female tribute from District Eleven… Violet Langston!"  
I shakily walked up onto the stage and sat down on a loveseat in front of Caesar. I could hear the cheers of the people in the audience get significantly louder as the wings made it appear as if I was flying.

"Why hello Violet! You look simply astonishing in your dress! What do you guys think about it? She looks as graceful as an actual butterfly!" He gestured to my outfit and the audience cheered even louder.

"Thanks Caesar. But really, it was all Syra's work that made me look like this." The cameras zoomed in on Syra, who loved all of the attention she was getting before it was shot back to me.

"Now, I've got a couple questions for you. How did you feel during the Tribute Parade when there was a sudden release of butterflies? I know that I was shocked, but then mystified by the beauty of them."  
"I was terrified." The crowd laughed even though I was telling the truth. "I heard a noise coming from our chariot and I thought that it was going to break." Caesar laughed. "But after that I was fine. I thought they were really pretty, just like home."  
"Aww, isn't that sweet? You're such a sweet girl Violet! I imagine you have a lot of friends back home."

This was a topic I was really hoping Caesar wouldn't bring up. This meant that I would have to tell all of Panem how I was ignored and bullied by kids all throughout my District, just because of my size… and past. But I really don't like talking about it. "No, I don't actually." The lights seemed to get brighter and the interview seemed to last forever. I still wasn't comfortable with being in front of all of these people, even with Caesar's easy-going attitude.

"What do you mean? What's not to like about you?"  
"I'm teased because of my height… and other stuff."  
"Could you elaborate on the 'other stuff'?"

This was one thing I couldn't do. "No. It's too hard to talk about." Even just thinking about it made my eyes tear up.

"Oh no don't cry! A beautiful girl like you shouldn't cry! Here, take this." He handed me a tissue. "Let's talk about happier things. Like that score you got! A seven! Wow! That's amazing for such a young girl! We're all dying to know- how'd you do it?"

A small smile played on my lips; I was still incredibly sad from thinking about why I was teased. "That's confidential Caesar."  
"Oh, pretty please?"

"I can't tell you; but one thing's for sure; don't count me out of these Games quite yet."  
"I wouldn't dream of it." The buzzer rang, to my delight. "Let's give it up for Violet Langston, from District Eleven!" I curtsied to the crowd and quickly left the stage. The rest of the interviews went by quickly, and I was glad to go back to the solitude of my own room.

After taking a quick shower, I put on a pair of comfortable pajamas and headed over to the elevator as soon as I was sure that everyone was asleep. I saw a button earlier that said "R", and I wanted to figure out where it went. I pushed it, and felt the elevator rise quickly.

I stepped out and instantly felt homesick. I was in a garden on the roof, and it reminded me a lot of home. I walked through the garden until I reached the end, where I could look out and see all of the Capitol. On one building far away, I could see a roof party. Probably in honor of its being the night before the Games officially started. I looked away and instead, looked down. I wondered what the Capitol would do if a tribute tried to commit suicide before the Games began. Probably hurt their family, I guess. I picked a nearby flower and examined it. It was a Primrose flower, one of my favorite kinds. I gently let go of it, wanting to watch it fall to the ground, when I heard a shock and saw it become crisped. Of course. There was an invisible force field, so that my earlier thoughts didn't actually happen. It was sad to see that flower die though.

"Couldn't sleep either?" I jumped, and saw Bates standing there. "I heard you leave and wanted to see where you went. I see you found this place."

I was too shocked for words, my heart still thumping at being found, so I only nodded. Bates sat down on a nearby seat and patted his hand, signaling that I sit down next to him. I quietly walked over and sat down next to him. We didn't talk anymore that night, just sat and watched the rest of the Capitol in peace. I slowly drifted off to a sleep filled with nightmares.

_I saw my mom standing in front of me, crying. "It's all your fault, Violet! Your fault that my baby girl died! You and your stupid mouth to feed that caused her to take out tesserae on you! It's your entire fault!" I stumbled backwards, onto a wall. I saw my dad enter the room, his eyes not filled with the usual happiness that they contained. He silently motioned towards the door. "We need some time alone." I was shocked by being cast out by my family. Didn't they know it wasn't my fault? Outside I was greeted by only death stares. My best friend, Gretchen, even refused to look at me. Not knowing what to do, I just ran away, with no one who cared about me._

_The scene changed. This time I was in the Hunger Games, being chased by another tribute. I was tackled, and only then saw that it was Bates, the one person that I could trust in the Games, holding a knife above my neck. He brought it down, but carved his name in my face and drew designs on by body, each slice hurting more than the one before. Soon I was a bloody mess, and he left me there to die. I had to die a slow and agonizing death, only to hear my cannon fire._

I was shaken awake.

"Come on, we've been looking everywhere for you!" I saw Sapphy standing in front of me, looking both relieved and angry at the same time. "Today's the big day Violet. I need to take you to your room so that you can get ready."  
She rushed me along, and handed me a piece of toast with melted butter on it. I crammed it into my mouth as I pulled on a pair of shorts and a random shirt, knowing that I would have to change out of it anyways. I was taken to the helicopter that took us to the secret arena that everyone is dying to see. I strapped myself in and waited for the last two people to arrive; it turned out to be the pair from District Five. A Peacekeeper came by once everyone was strapped in and shot something into my arm. I winced because of the quick pain that I felt, and then realized that it was our trackers. Wouldn't want to lose a tribute.

We took off shortly thereafter and I was ushered to a room by Peacekeepers, although at second glance it was more like a jail cell. In it I saw Syra, who helped me put on my new clothes. It was a pair of black pants, a dark gray shirt, and a jacket that helped preserve body heat.

"_60 seconds till start."_

I froze. I couldn't do this. The Games were about to begin. I was about to die, and there was nothing I could possibly do about it.

"Come on girl stop acting like that. Here, take your token."

"_30 seconds till start."_

She handed me a charm bracelet that I instantly recognized. It was my mom's. I looked up to her with a look of gratitude. "Thank you." I barely whispered it.

"Yeah yeah no problem kid. Now, you better get into the tube or you'll suffer."  
_"15 seconds till start."_

I slowly walked over to the tube, before turning around and running towards Syra. I watched as her eyes got bigger and bigger as I hugged her fiercely. "Thank you. For everything." She awkwardly hugged me back before pushing me towards the tube.

"Get going. And good luck."

I stepped back into the tube and watched as Syra slowly disappeared from my sight. I had was raised above ground, and got a good first look at what the arena looked like. I couldn't believe my eyes. I didn't know how anyone could win the Games in this. It would be too hard, for everyone.

**A/N: Hey guys, sorry for the late updates. I've been working at a summer camp all summer and it takes up a lot of time in my day. But what I really want to know is what you guys think about everything; what do you think the arena will be? What do you think that 'other stuff' might be about? I really need to know this stuff :) Sorry for the long note, but as always read and review! Spread the story! Give me feedback! It makes me happy! :D**


	8. First Glimpses of the Arena

I squinted, my eyes still adjusting to the change of light. Or rather, lack of. There didn't seem to be much light at all; it seemed to be nighttime, but without any sort of light source. Once my eyes were adjusted, I looked around.

_30._

All I saw were walls everywhere. It was as if we were inside an empty building, except for the Cornucopia being in the center of it. On each wall there was one opening, leading off to who knows where. It was a maze.

_20._

To my left I saw the boy from District Twelve, who looked as if he might die of fright before the Games even started. To the left of me I saw Cassandra, the evil looking girl from District Three that somehow didn't make it into the Career alliance. She had her eyes set on a wicked looking sword, which I felt she would put to use very well. I looked around, and the closest thing to me was a camouflaged backpack, which I knew I had to grab. It could hold items essential to my survival.

_10._

I looked further into the Cornucopia and saw a set of daggers that I knew were placed just for me. However, that meant that I would have to go _into _the Bloodbath, which I was strongly advised not to do by Sapphy and Bates.

_5._

I looked over and saw Bates looking at me, motioning over to the entrance to the left of me.

_4._

I caught Rosetta and Lyla's face too. They were right in front of it, and they were in the position to run backwards towards it. I guess Bates had already told them about it.

_3._

Cristoff looked as if he was going to dart into the Cornucopia to grab as many weapons as he could. I really hoped he wouldn't betray us and go with the Careers instead.

_2._

I wiped my palms on my clothes and started preparing myself for the run ahead.

_1._

A gong rang throughout the area. I sprinted forward as fast as I could, to ensure that it would be me that grabbed the backpack. Suddenly, I was tackled from behind. I was pushed to the ground and saw that Karl, Rosetta's District Partner, was grinning evilly while holding me down.

"Thought that you would have an alliance with my Rosetta and not include me, huh? Well they're just going to have to settle without you and with _me _instead!" He cackled, and was about to bring a knife down on my head when he slumped forward to the point where he was laying on top of me. I saw blood trickling out of his mouth, and onto my clothes. I saw that there was an arrow embedded into his skull, and saw Cristoff standing a couple feet away from me, bow still strung.

"Come on. We've got to get out of here and meet up with the others." Cristoff extended a hand to me and quickly pulled me up. Before we ran away I grabbed the backpack that so nearly ended my life.

We sprinted over to the exit that we agreed on before, or at least what I thought was the same one. Once I fell on the ground my sense of direction got all messed up, so I had to trust Cristoff on this one. He handed me a dagger that he had grabbed out of the Cornucopia, and I kept it in my hand. Since it was the first day, I didn't know who all I would encounter; all I knew is that I had to stay safe.

As soon as we passed through the exit we were faced with the tough decision of whether or not we go left or right.

"I say we go left. I've got a bad feeling about right." I agreed with Cristoff. There was something off about the right way, and I didn't want to find out what it was that was making us feel that way.

We ran to the left, and made random left and right turns until we felt we had to take a break. We were no closer to finding the rest of the group as we were in the beginning, and were starting to need water. All of a sudden we heard a loud "BOOM". The Bloodbath must be over at this point. It was followed by six more, signifying that seven other kids died today. Seventeen left.

Cristoff and I still couldn't figure out how to find the rest of the group. We hadn't even considered thinking of a place to meet up at, because we never imagined the arena to be a maze. I suggested that we kept on going until we at least found another tribute, but Cristoff was against that.

"With our luck we'll run into the Career group. Then we'll both be dead. We need to just stay where we are and hope that they'll somehow make a signal so that we can find them." There was really no point in arguing with Cristoff so I just sat there. I looked through my backpack and found that we had a canteen that the Gamemakers so kindly left empty, a bottle of iodine, a couple strips of beef jerky and a small first aid kit. Cristoff managed to get a bow and arrow sheath, my dagger, a spear, and a sleeping bag. It wasn't a bad haul, if I do say so, for something that two people managed to get.

We were silent for so long I thought I would go crazy. Finally, I decided that the quiet was too pointless to continue, so I brilliantly started a conversation.

"So… I heard that you were approached by the Careers."  
He looked over at me, and then back down at his arrows. "Yeah. They did. Didn't think word would spread so quickly. I didn't want to be a Career, because all they are is bloodthirsty murderers that eventually turn on each other. It wouldn't be that safe for me there, and I just generally liked all of you better."

"Oh." I didn't really know what to say anymore. My conversation starter hadn't really started a conversation all that well. "Do you have any family back home?" There. That one should start an actual conversation.

"Yeah. I have a little sister and my mom. My dad died when I was little; he had some weird disease. I promised Sara, my sister, that I would come home to her. She gave me her favorite ring for good luck. I kept it as my token." I looked up and saw that on a chain hanging around his neck, there was, in fact, a ring. It was shaped like a heart. "What about you?"

"Oh, I just have my mom and dad back home. That's all." He nodded, then all of a sudden cane over to where I was sitting. "I know your secret, you know. That 'stuff' that you were avoiding talking about in your interview. I'm really sorry about it by the way." I jerked my head over towards him, my body starting to shake.

"How do you know?" I barely whispered it. I hated the thought of it, so just the idea that someone knew about it just made my stomach start to turn.

"Well I just put two and two together. I remembered that Games. It was a brutal one."

I didn't respond. I just sat there, showing no response at all. I didn't want to talk about this. I didn't want to think about it at all. I just wanted to curl up into a ball and wake up in my bed at home. That this was all a dream.  
"Hey, it's okay. I didn't mean to upset you. Here, eat some jerky. You'll need the energy." I nodded, accepting the jerky. I was in the middle of chewing when the Capitol anthem started playing. We looked up to see which tributes died.

Boy from Three, boy from Five, Karl, the girl from Nine, the boy from Ten, and both from Twelve. I breathed a sigh of relief. Bates, Rosetta and Lyla were all safe. We just had to somehow find them in the maze.

**A/N: Hi guys! You should be so proud of me for updating this so quickly. Sorry for it being so short; I couldn't really figure out what to do next. So I decided to just end it there. More to come later! Do you think they'll find the rest of the Alliance? Have you figured out what her secret was? Review please! I still haven't gotten anymore, and that makes me sad **** Reviews make me happy! **** -Alex**


	9. Our First Encounter

We decided that Cristoff would stay awake for three hours and then wake me up. It would be safer that way. However, I found that I could hardly stay awake during my shift and Cristoff ended up doing my last hour for me so I could get more rest. Once I woke up we decided we had to figure out a way to get to Bates, Rosetta and Lyla.

"We could leave a little mark somewhere that would let them know we were there, and so that they could follow our little 'trail' until one of us finds the other?" I suggested.

Cristoff nodded. "That would be smart. But we would need to make it look inconspicuous so that any other passing tributes don't realize what we're doing and follow us."

"But it has to be something that only they would recognize."

He nodded, looking deep in thought. "That's the hard part."

I had to stop what I was doing (which was trying to put all of our stuff back in our backpack) so I could think about something that only Bates would know about. I looked along the walls that surrounded us to see if they would offer any inspiration. I jumped up. "Primrose!" Cristoff angrily shushed me. I forgot how if I was loud like that and other tributes were nearby we could die. I quieted down. "Oops. Sorry. But the primrose flower! Bates was with me the night before the Games, so I guess two days ago, when he saw me accidentally burn a primrose flower to a crisp!" Cristoff looked incredibly confused. "Experiment. Don't ask. But do you think it would work?"

"I honestly don't know. But that's the best thing we have to work with."  
"Well what did you think of? It honestly can't be _that _bad."  
He looked a bit embarrassed. "I was going to write our initials on the ground by the wall."

Well that would be dumb. Even I knew that. Other tributes could follow our trail and then kill us. "Oh… it's not _too _bad of an idea."

He shrugged me off. "Let's go with yours."

We ended up gathering as much primrose as possible, so that we could scatter them whenever we needed to. We would place them in an 'X' at any corner that we go to. Hopefully the group would be smart enough to figure it out, or that we would find them first.

We set off soon after that, with Cristoff leading the way. We had no exact means of which way to go, so thankfully, there were a lot of straightaways and not as many fork in the roads that we had to choose. We still hadn't found any source of water, and I was definitely starting to feel the effects of not drinking any. However, I still dragged myself along, no matter how thirsty I was. We also hadn't encountered any other tributes yet, which was both good and bad. How is it bad, some people might think? But I've watched the Games for as long as I remember, and whenever a tribute doesn't encounter another person within a certain amount of time, the Gamemakers use any means to drive them towards another in the hopes of a bloody encounter. Most of the time they are, and few end in new alliances.

We continued along, my energy failing even more as the morning went by. At one point I asked Cristoff if we could take a break for a moment and he let us stop. We were quietly eating a little bit of our jerky when we heard a voice for the first time. And it wasn't any of our allies' voices. Cristoff quickly but quietly put all of our things in the backpack and pulled me backwards, into the darkness that was provided by the wall. I hoped that whoever was walking by wouldn't come and investigate what was in the darkness. If they did, then the Games were over for me and Cristoff.

The voice got louder and louder as they got closer, but I still couldn't identify who it was. But one thing I did know is that it wasn't Bates, Lyla or Rosetta. It was a loner, but I wasn't paying that much attention during Training to see who was allied with someone and who wasn't. However, I could identify that it was a male's voice and not a females. This didn't make me feel much better. Shortly thereafter, the voice turned into a person. And the person made my stomach churn.

It was Augustus, the boy from Nine, who proved to be going crazy, like I had initially thought. I was so terrified of what he might do to us that I almost let out a whimper, but Cristoff realized it and put his hand over my mouth. I felt a little better remembering that I wasn't all alone. I don't know how he heard it, but Augustus heard the movement of Cristoff's hand over to my mouth and stopped and stared right at me. My heart stopped. This would be it. I would die and never get to see my mom and dad again. Tonight it would be my face in the sky. Augustus slowly walked over to us, and faster than what would I think was possible, grabbed my neck and raised me above him so that I couldn't reach the ground. I couldn't breathe.

"Well lookie at what I found! Don't you think she's pretty guys?" After pausing, Augustus laughed as if someone had told the funniest joke in the world while I was slowly dying. My thoughts all blurred together, I couldn't hear that well and my eyesight went in and out. Somewhere in all of my incoherent thoughts I remembered my mom and dad's face. I remembered how I promised to try my hardest to come back home. I remembered Cristoff, who somehow disappeared while I was dying. I remembered how I still had the dagger that he got for me out of the Cornucopia. My arms fumbled down to my pocket where it was concealed as I felt my heart start beating even slower as I struggled for breath. I don't know how I was able to survive for this long; I should have been dead by now.

I willed my eyes to open and found that I was on the ground, and saw Cristoff and Augustus in a heated battle. Wearily, I lifted my hand, gripping the dagger as if my life depended on it (which in a way it did), and threw it in the direction that I thought was Augustus. I heard someone scream. I couldn't identify which tribute it came from, and couldn't open my eyes to find out if I had succeeded in killing my enemy, or if I killed my ally. I slowly blacked out, and the last thing I heard was a cannon go off.

I heard voices. I wasn't sure whose they were, or even if I was alive. That cannon could have been mine. I opened my eyes, and saw that I indeed _hadn't _died and that I was still in the maze. Slowly, I tried to lift my head to see who I was with, but that proved to be painful, and a slight whimper escaped me, much to my dismay. The voices all stopped, and I could hear one person run over to me.

"She's awake!" I heard someone shout out excitedly. That voice sounded so familiar, but I hadn't heard it in such a long time that I couldn't figure out who it was. The person's face came into view, but it was blurred, along with the rest of my vision, due to the near-death experience I just had when Augustus choked me. I blinked, and everything became clearer. The smiling face, blond hair, blue eyes… it was Lyla, my ally.

"Lyla? Is that you?" She nodded, with a smile that made her eyes crinkle. "W-what happened?"

She waved someone over while explaining to me that she wasn't there for all of it to let me know what happened. Attempting to turn my head again, with less pain than before I saw that the person she waved over was Cristoff. Cristoff! He hadn't died! He smiled when he saw I was awake.

"Thought you would've never woken up Violet." I must've still looked incredibly confused, so Cristoff took a big breath and began telling me what happened.

"I'm not sure how much you remember, but Augustus came over to our hiding place and found us… well namely you. He grabbed you by the neck and nearly choked you to death. At that point I came out of the spot, because no one hurts my allies without me at least attempting to do anything about it. So after holding you off of the ground by your neck for almost a minute, he threw you to the ground and came at me instead. He and I started wrestling, because my sword was back at our hiding spot after I carelessly left it behind, and because he didn't seem to have any weapons.

"It was a pretty intense fight. Turned out he did have a weapon, a small knife, and gave me this," I looked down and saw a long, jagged cut on his arm. It was sloppily put back together with stitches. "…when out of nowhere a dagger flew through the air. _Your _dagger. I still have no idea how you were able to throw that accurately, but I wasn't complaining. It flew right next to my neck and embedded itself into his chest. Augustus backed away, staggering. I could tell he was in a lot of pain, and his breathing sounded very laborious. He begged me to just end it, so I ran back, grabbed my sword, and, well…" He trailed off. "Yeah. Anyways, he died and you seemed dead too. I ran over to you, but not a moment later to be greeted by all of these people." I slightly turned my head and saw Bates and Rosetta watching me. Smiling, Bates walked closer to me.

"We heard all of the fighting and were close enough to come and see what happened. We saw you on the ground not moving with Cristoff hovering over you with a sword… and let's just say it wasn't the happiest reunion in the world." Cristoff and Bates exchanged a look of… was that embarrassment? I decided I really didn't want to know what happened.

Lyla continued. "Once we realized that Cristoff hadn't injured you, we helped set up camp here so we could wait for you to hopefully wake up. Rosetta stitched up his cut, and we tried to make you as comfortable as possible. We've been waiting for about… an hour I think for you to wake up. And you just did, so now you're all caught up." She beamed at me. I was really glad that I had found my allies now. At the moment though, I was more concerned on getting moving again so that we wouldn't be out in the open. Lyla helped me stand up, and I got a better look at the camp that we had.

All of the supplies that Cristoff and I had were still in the same spot as they were before our encounter with Augustus. Next to it, I saw what I guess the other group got from the Cornucopia. They got a first aid kit, another sleeping bag, a flashlight, and a backpack that seemed to have a tiny bit of food in it. Everyone was staring at me, I guess trying to see what my initial reaction would be.

"Sounds…exciting." They all laughed. I'm not sure where the 'comical' side of me came from, but I liked it. No more of the shy Violet that almost got me killed. It was now time for the butt-kick Violet that also enjoyed making her allies laugh. "Um, can I have something to eat? I'm a little hungry."

Rosetta leaped up from where she was sitting and handed me a tiny piece of bread. "Sorry for how small it is, we have to ration things out now that our group is bigger." I shrugged, accepting that some things had to be done in order for us to all be able to eat something.

Bates checked with me to make sure that I was fine, and then suggested that we go ahead and pack up camp and move on. We had been resting for long enough, he said. I agreed with him. We needed to find something to help us in the Games, like a water source. The other group had managed to grab two water bottles from the Cornucopia, but both of them were almost empty. They let me have a tiny sip of it before closing off the bottle and storing it away with the rest of our stuff.

"Have to save it for emergencies now, you know?" Cristoff smiled at me, and all thoughts of him possibly betraying our group vanished. He was actually worried that I had died, and had almost died himself while trying to protect me.

With each of us feeling ready to go, we moved on through the maze, not knowing what we would encounter next.

And boy was it terrifying.

**A/N: Yay! Long chapter to make up for my short one before! 2,230 words! Hope you enjoyed all of them. Let me know! And I'm also thinking of doing a SYOT fanfic after this one is over (or maybe during… I'm not quite sure yet) But let me know what you think! About the story, about the possible SYOT, anything! As always, read and review!**

**~Alex**


	10. All My Fault

We started walking more, and about an hour into the walk we heard a cannon boom.

"One less tribute to go," Bates added grimly. I didn't enjoy thinking about the number of tributes decreasing, because that just signified that my death would happen sooner and that the alliance would be broken up soon for our own good. Another cannon boomed a minute later. I wondered what happened. Could the Careers have run into another group? We stayed silent and continued walking on.

We had been walking for a short amount of time when we heard a twig snap from somewhere behind us. We discovered that this arena was designed so that if you turn around it's a different way than it was when you came, so we didn't know where we came from, or if we were just walking in circles. Everyone stopped, grabbed our weapon of choice, and turned around. There was nothing in sight. Cristoff walked forward a couple steps, and made a beckoning motion with his hands, trying to get whoever was there to come out and fight us. Our response was the sound of a gentle breeze blowing through the arena. Turning around, Cristoff made to walk back over to us. That's when we saw it.

Running out from shadows that we didn't initially see, came a creature that I had never seen before. It was a huge creature covered in thick, black hair. It had one eye in the center of its forehead, and it was an evil red. It had two, muscular arms with huge hands. A mutt. It bounded off towards Cristoff, and before we could warn him about it or he could try and run, the mutt tackled him to the ground. It picked him up and bit Cristoff's head off, and threw his body to the side. I screamed, mouth open in horror. Cristoff was the person who protected me from the Cornucopia and from Augustus. I owed him my life. This was beyond horrible. It was evil, what the Capitol was doing to us.

My paralyzed body was being pulled along by Bates, who was running away from the mutt as fast as he could while holding me. I looked over my shoulder and saw the mutt still devouring Cristoff's mangled body. Lyla, if it was at all possible, seemed even more horror-struck than I was. We seemed to be escaping from the mutt when it came at us again, done with Cristoff. We ran faster than we had before, and then Rosetta tripped. She fell. We stopped. The mutt sliced her stomach before Bates had a chance to spear its heart and killed it.

"Rosetta!" I screamed and ran over to her, finding her in a horrible situation. Her stomach was bleeding profusely, and her face was pale. Her entire body was shaking; she had lost too much blood. "Oh Rosetta…" Tears were silently pouring down my face as I gripped her small hand.

"V-Violet?" Subconsciously I realized the others gathered behind us. We all knew she wasn't going to make it, but I refused to believe it.

"I'm here, Rosetta." My voice sounded hoarse, probably from all of the events that had just happened.

"I-I see my mom. But I'm so cold. Why am I so cold?" Her mom. She must have died.

"I don't know. But I'm sure," My voice broke. "I'm sure you'll be warm soon. With your mom. You'll be happy. Happier than you've ever been."

She struggled to smile. "That's good. Can you tell me a story?" I forgot that she was also my age. She sounded years younger than she actually is.

"Of… of course I can. Once upon a time, in a land far away, lived a little girl named Rosetta. Rosetta was so small that she lived inside a patch of beautiful roses, just like her namesake. Then Rosetta discovered one day that she had to leave her patch of roses to go to another place because the Flower people instructed her to go on an adventure. So she left, and on the way she met many flower friends. She met Violet, who lived in a patch of Violets, Lyla, who lived in lily pads, and two other friends; Bates and Cristoff, who lived in the forest. They went on lots of adventures together, like riding a bunny, going to visit the Flower people city, and to a cave full of diamonds. When she returned from her adventure, everyone loved hearing her stories. She was happy. One day, her friend Violet visited. They played the whole day, and fell asleep looking at the stars from inside Rosetta's rose, the prettiest of all."

"That sounds…"

A cannon boomed.

I was numb after what happened to Rosetta. No one could get a word out of me. I was too shocked to speak. Silently, we moved on away from the scene. Once I heard the hovercrafts come, I stopped and turned around. I watched them grab Cristoff and Rosetta's bodies. Silent tears rushed down my face. I fell to the ground and curled up. It wasn't just that I had lost one of my allies; I had lost another part of me. I decided then that if I made it out of the arena somehow, I would plant a rosebush in front of my house in remembrance of Rosetta. A primrose bush for Cristoff. I would never forget them.

Sometime later we ended up moving on again. No one spoke. We were all saddened by what happened. I highly doubted that the Gamemakers would send something after us for the rest of the day. Tomorrow as well if we're lucky. All that I can think about at this point is how close to death I was, how other people that I had grown closer to had died, and how the amount of people left was slowly decreasing. I couldn't allow a small sliver of hope of me winning come into my mind, because if it did then I would be faced with the cruel truth that twelve year olds just don't win the Games.

We walked until we were all too tired to move on. Once we had found a good place to camp out in the shadows, I moved as far away from the group as I dared to go. Not even eating, I lay on my back and thought about everything. I thought about my family, my dead sister, Rosetta, Cristoff, and anything good that happened to me in my life. I tried not to think about how I was going to die soon.

I guess I didn't realize how long I had lain there, because I heard the Capitol Anthem start to play. I forced myself to look up at the stars. First was Terrence from District One. He must have been one of the cannons I heard earlier. Next was Cristoff's face. Then Rosetta's. I knew what happened to them. I started crying again, but quickly brushed them away. I had to be strong; no more crying. The last face that was shown was Annaleise from District Eight. The siblings must have had an encounter with the Careers and one of them must have killed Terrence. I'm surprised. I thought he would've lasted longer than this. I never would have thought I would outlast him. I turned over again, and attempted to fall asleep. I somehow did, but was met with a horrible nightmare.

I was in a pitch black room, all alone. Suddenly, Rosetta was next to me, skin hanging off her bones. She looked like the living dead.

"Violettt…" Blood flowed out of her mouth and onto me as she spoke. "It's your entire fault Violet that I had to die. Your entire fault."

"Violet." I jumped, and found that Rosetta and disappeared. Cristoff appeared to the other side of me instead. "You did this to me. YOU DID THIS TO ME." He was screaming at me, which didn't seem possible because he was headless. The rest of his body was all cut up in long, jagged cuts. With some you could see his bones. "If I hadn't had to save YOUR PATHETIC LIFE then I would still be alive. IT'S ALL YOUR FAULT VIOLET. ALL YOUR FAULT!"

He disappeared again, being replaced by my sister.

"Hello Violet."  
Shaking, I turned to her. She looked perfectly fine, so I was confused. Where was the gore? Why was she normal?

"K-K-Kate? Why are you here?"

She smiled, and walked over to me. "I'm here to remind you of what you're fighting for. I don't blame you for what happened. It's not your fault you were born. I didn't mind taking the extra tesserae for you. You were so little and starving, I had to help."  
I straightened up, tears running down my face. "But, Kate, you died horribly. Another tribute… he… he…" I couldn't finish. The memory was too painful, even in my dreams.

"I know." Kate touched my arm. "It's fine. I'm in a better place now. And trust me, you will make it out of the arena. Alive. Trust me." She smiled one last time, and then faded into the darkness.

I woke up. I saw that Lyla was taking watch for us. With fewer allies, we were all forced to take longer shifts. She looked as if she needed sleep. I poked her and she smiled, glad that someone else was awake. She went over to where I was sleeping, curled up into a ball, and fell asleep. I didn't even mind taking an extra-long shift. The night seemed to drag on, and soon it was morning. I walked over to Bates and Lyla, gently shaking them awake. We needed to continue walking if we wanted to make the most of the day.

After gathering all of our things together, I led the group through the maze, randomly choosing when to turn left and when to turn right. At one point, we somehow went in a circle. I wasn't sure where I was planning on having us go; I feel like the Cornucopia would be a good place for us to head back to. It would give us a chance to stock up on materials. After traveling for a good bit of the day, we stopped to take a break. We all hadn't spoken much during the day, still slightly in shock from yesterday. In my head, I was sort of sad about that. I needed to talk to someone.

Sitting down on a rock, I heard a quiet noise. Instantly jumping to my feet, I looked around for the source of the sound. Not seeing anything and receiving strange looks from Bates, I cautiously sat down again. A white parachute settled down next to me, without my notice, and I jumped up with a slight shriek. Lyla laughed, and then hastily covered her mouth, trying to suppress her giggles. Laughing was dangerous in the arena. I walked over to the parachute, and opened the capsule attached to it. Inside of it was a loaf of bread from District Eleven, and a small set of throwing knifes. I had a feeling I knew who the knives were for, and showed the bread to my allies. We cut it up, dividing it equally among us. Bates insisted that the knives were for me, so I attached them to my belt and started nibbling on my slice of bread. I had to make it last as long as I could. It reminded me of home, a reminder that I greatly needed. Picking the parachute up to put it in a backpack, an unnoticed piece of paper slipped out of it. Picking it up, I saw that it read, "LLRLSLR".

I showed it to the others. "What do you think it means?" My voice was hoarse from not talking and from crying too much.

Bates shrugged. "I don't know. It could be anything, really. Possibly even a misprint. Just throw it away."

"I think it could be a clue," Lyla said. "Something related to the arena. I say we keep it. What do you think Violet?"

I sat down, looking at the piece of paper. "I agree with Lyla. I think we should figure out what it means before we continue on."

We brainstormed for a little bit. We came up with a code, a misprint, a combination for a lock, someone in the Capitol's name, and a clue. I could feel a thought tugging at the back of my mind, but I couldn't quite figure out what it was.  
All of a sudden, I knew what it was. Leaping up, I explained to them what I thought it was.

"That's amazing!" Lyla exclaimed. "That's really smart of you to think of it like that, Violet. "

Bates nodded. "I say we try it."

Quickly gathering all of our things, I led the group once more, this time with more energy flowing through me. If what that paper was what I thought it was, it could change everything about what was going on right now. It could be life or death for us, quite literally.

When we came across spots to either turn or continue going straight, I followed what the paper said. Left, left, right, left straight, left. Then we came to our final turn. I stopped, and turned around to look at my allies. I could either be leading them into a trap or to something great. Lyla smiled at me, and motioned for me to continue on. The day was almost done, and no cannons had gone off. I wanted to see what the paper was leading us to before it was too dark to see anything. Taking a deep breath, I turned right.

There was nothing there. Nothing that I could see, at least. It seemed like a walkway that went on forever. I wondered what I had gotten us into. We walked for what seemed like hours, until we finally reached the end. It was a dead end, with a solid wall blocking us from continuing on.

"This is it? This is what our paper led us to?" Bates seemed angry. "All of that walking, for _nothing_?" Angry, he kicked the dead end wall and found that his foot went through it. Shocked, he almost fell through. We were all confused. A wall that wasn't solid?  
"So, who goes in first?" I didn't know who should go first. I was honestly a little scared of going in first, only because I didn't know what was beyond the fake wall.

"I think you should go in first Bates, only because you discovered it was a fake wall," I insisted. Lyla nodded enthusiastically next to me, and Bates put on a brave face and nodded.

He went through first, and Lyla and I watched him disappear. Next went Lyla, and finally me. Once I stepped through, I saw that we were back at the Cornucopia. We had somehow gotten back to the Cornucopia, where it seemed unguarded. No Careers around. Just what was left from the Bloodbath and us was all that was there.

I almost fainted with relief. Whoever was sponsoring us had somehow read my mind when I was trying to take us back here. If it weren't for them, we probably would still be wandering somewhere in the maze.

**A/N: I am sososososo SO sorry about how long it took to update! I got distracted a lot with school, sports (I run Cross Country), babysitting, etc. Hopefully this is long enough to make it up for you **** Please read and review!**


	11. Fight or Flight?

We all sprinted to the Cornucopia, the anticipation of what was inside too great for us to walk to it. Once we got there we saw that it had been ransacked, but still some food leftover. Food that no one else would think to bring; dried fruit, beef jerky, and some bruised fruits. There wasn't much left in terms of other supplies, but there was a sleeping bag, a small flashlight, a small first aid kit, and a sword. I gave the sword to Bates, because he would most likely be the most suited one for it, to which he responded with a nod.

I felt as safe as I could possibly be in the arena. Because of the arena being a maze, it was near impossible for anyone else, namely the Careers, to come and find us. The anthem brought me out of my thoughts. I looked up to the sky and tried to remember if anyone had died today. I couldn't think of anyone that had, and the sky supported my thoughts. No faces shined in the sky tonight. I suppose that could be a good thing, because no one had to murder another person, yet a bad thing, because it doesn't help me get back home sooner.

Drifting off to sleep, I realized that as much as I wanted to win, I didn't deserve to win. I hadn't done anything to help my allies, except figure out the note we had that led us to the Cornucopia. Bates took me under his wing, helped me survive, and was almost like a brother to me. Lyla was too innocent, had no reason to die. I would have to figure out a way to sacrifice myself in order for them to survive. I eventually fell asleep, and was greeted with a dreamless sleep.

The next morning, I could tell that something was going to happen soon. Since nothing had happened the day before, something had to happen today. I could only hope that it wouldn't involve us. I still hadn't fully recovered from what happened to Cristoff and Rosetta. I don't think I ever would, now that I think about it.

The day was actually quite pretty. Then we heard it. A cannon went off. Then another. This was making me nervous. What was going on? Was it a mutt? Was it headed our way? Was I going to die? I knew that the night before I was going to be noble and die for my friends, but I didn't want to die just yet. Certainly not from a mutt either.

I couldn't sit still. Bates and Lyla were trying to take inventory of what we had. I could do that with them. I couldn't concentrate on that; only on how to face our imminent threats. Careers? Avoid them at all costs. If we had to confront them, sacrifice myself in order to save my allies lives. If it was a mutt, there's nothing we can really do besides attempt to outrun it. If it corners us, fight it? That didn't seem like a great idea. Mutts are generally incredibly strong, so fighting it would essentially be suicide. My thoughts intruded into my game plans, whether I liked it or not. _But that's essentially what you're going to do, right? You're going to die, willingly, so that your friends live._

I told my thoughts to go away. I didn't have the time or patience for them at that moment. I had to focus on my thoughts. I realized that Bates and Lyla were staring at me in a strange way, and I had no idea what was going on.

"What?"

"You just looked so much older than twelve… you seemed as if you were an adult. You were really deep in thought, and muttering to yourself as well. Lyla here was a little freaked out." Bates was then punched by Lyla, and I think it hurt her hand more than it did him. I laughed a bit.

"Just trying to think of all the different situations we might have to face at the moment. Those two cannons were _definitely _not accidental, so I was attempting to think of different things to do in order to prepare us for what killed two tributes."

"Good thinking." Bates talked to me a bit about my thoughts, and contributed some himself. We decided that no matter what, we would end up fighting _something_, so we each needed to have some form of a weapon on us, if not multiples. Lyla was just about to hand us each our allotted weapons when we heard something.

"You're so _stupid _Daniel! Your stupid 'code' only got us to a dead end! Why did I ever listen to you? Now we're lost and are nowhere close to finding that stupid girl from Eleven that did better than me with the knives! Knives are _my _thing, hear me? My. Thing."

We froze in place. That voice belonged to none other than Astrita, the Career that I believed to be the worst. While it's usually the Tributes from Two that are the most bloodthirsty, it was definitely her this year. Trying to be as quiet as I could, I motioned for Lyla and Bates to get into the Cornucopia and hide as best they could. I figured that at that moment it would be my final stand. I would die to protect them. Somehow though, I made a noise while motioning for them to hide.

"What was that? Is there someone there?" This time it was Hazel speaking, Tribute from Two. I'm a little surprised that the Careers are still together at this point; they usually kill each other or break off by this point in the Games.

"I wonder if…" There was a pause, and I watched as a hand went through the same wall that we came through. It was a boy's strong hand. "Guys, did you see that? It's a fake wall! There has to be some silly little Tributes on the other side trying to hide from us!" The voice turned out to belong to Edward, fellow Two Tribute. I could figure that out when I saw him emerge fully through the wall, followed by Astrita, Hazel, Daniel, and Brittney.

My heart dropped. Any sense of security I had felt before was completely lost. It would be my final stand; us against the Careers.

"Oh my gosh is that _you _Bates?" Astrita wiggled her fingers in some sort of a wave. What was she doing? Why weren't they trying to kill us? Behind me I heard a shuffling noise and watched as Lyla started to run into another entrance into the maze. Daniel raised his spear, ready to throw it, when Brittney grabbed his hand.

"Don't waste your spear on her; she'll die soon anyways without anyone else." Lyla didn't even stop for us. She just ran away. I couldn't believe it. She was willing to betray us while I was willing to risk my life for them.

"Now… as for _you_…" She pointed at me. Why was she pointing at me? Oh, that's right, because I was about to die. "You get to stay and hang out with me and Bates! Come on, little closer now!" She motioned me to go over to where she was standing. I didn't want to move. Edward shoved me forward, snickering when I almost fell over.

"That's right… now, _Bates_. The _strongest_ person I've ever met! Can I come and feel your muscles? I would _love _to feel your muscles." Astrita giggled and sashayed over to where Bates was at. She started stroking his arms. What in the _world _was she doing? "How would you like to be my boyfriend Bates?"

Bates looked as uncomfortable and as on edge as he could possibly be. "Um. Thanks, but no thanks."

Astrita smiled evilly. "Aw, well that's just _too _bad! Violet, come over here. I want you to see this." I walked over to her, my legs trembling with every step.

"Now, do you think Bates and I would make a good couple? Because I think we would!" She twirled her hair around her finger. Now that it was out of her face, I could see her eyes. They were cornflower blue, pretty in most cases, but on her they made her look evil.

I was too scared to speak.

"Do you?" Her voice was calm, but terrifying at the same time. I had no idea what she was about to do.

My voice cracked as I spoke. "I-I suppose, but…"

"But what? There's nothing wrong with us!" She wrapped her arms around his waist. Edward started chuckling, but was quickly silenced by a glare from Astrita.

"B-b-but it's the Hunger Games and only one person comes out alive."

She put on a fake look of sadness. Lips puckered into a pout, she said, "Well, then I guess I'll have to make the most of it then." She leaned in and planted a kiss onto Bates' mouth. I didn't see that she had a knife in her hand. I didn't see her hand making its way to his heart. I only saw the knife enter and leave his body, saw him fall, heard his cannon.

"_No_!" A cry of pure agony left my mouth before I could stop it. My whole body was trembling, from both anger and extreme sadness.

"That," Astrita said while wiping Bates' blood off of her knife, "was for showing off in the Training Center. No one is better than a Career. No one."

I then remembered the dagger I had hidden in my sleeve. But could I really do it? Kill a Career?

Astrita started making her way over to me.

It was now or never. I had to make a decision. What were my options? Kill Astrita, and either get killed by the rest of the Careers or escape. Attempt to run out of the area. But Astrita is a very good knife thrower; she would probably peg me down on the way out. But then again, I'm a fairly good sprinter. And then there was the fact that she killed Bates, because of me. But do I need to kill her to avenge his life?

Astrita was twenty feet away. The Careers were evilly laughing.

What would my sister want me to do? What would Rosetta want me to do? Cristoff even? Ly-No. She betrayed us. I can't think of her as an ally anymore.

"Ready to die Violet?" I looked up and saw that she was only ten feet away. She could easily kill me from how close she was to me.

I realized I _wasn't _ready to die. She wouldn't kill me, at least not without me going down fighting.

I had made my decision.

"Never."

**A/N: Hey guys! Thanks for reading and reviewing! With every review that I got I got so warm and fuzzy inside :3 So… I was crying inside when I killed Bates… I felt horrible… Please don't hate me XD**

**Anyways, one of my friends, hunterofartemis080 is writing an AWESOME Doctor Who fanfiction! You guys should really go and check it out! She's amazing! **

**As always, read and review! Love you guys!**


	12. Astrita

I lunged at her, knife in my hand. "Oh, so _that's _how you want to play it?" Astrita evilly grinned as she pulled out her own set of knives and motioned for the other Careers to back off. "She's mine."

We engaged in a one-on-one battle for survival. Well, more survival in my case. Entertainment and revenge for hers. We were both equally matched; her skills versus my speed and size. We seemed to dance with each other for what was hours to me, but most likely a few minutes for everyone else. Then I saw the perfect opportunity for me to strike; she had stupidly left her right side unguarded. I jumped at her, my knife cutting open into her flesh. It didn't go deep enough to kill, but seriously injure is what it did. Blood started gushing out of the wound as she gasped and pressed a hand to her side.

"You. Did. Not. Just. Do. That."

Fueled with more anger than before our match had even started, she moved even angrier than before, but slightly slower due to her injury. She managed to slice my right arm, which thankfully wasn't my dominant, but still made me hiss with pain. Starting to back away, I realized how stupid I was, going into a battle with Astrita. Then I realized once again why I went in; for all of my allies. For Bates. Rosetta. Cristoff. My dead sister. Everyone that's ever suffered because of the Hunger Games.

Still backing away from the fight, my mind started hatching a plan about how to escape, victorious. However, it would be very risky, because if one thing went wrong I would be dead in an instant.

"What's wrong little girl? Too scared now?"

Smirking, I replied "In your dreams. Just needed to see how my arm looks." Doing a quick check-over it, I saw that it was looking worse than it felt. "Yep. Still an arm. A bloody one, but hey! I have it!" Astrita rolled her eyes and started running towards me. This was it. A bead of sweat rolling down my head, I drew back my left arm and released my knife. I watched as it went soaring through the air and finding its way to Astrita's chest. Right where her heart was. She whimpered and fell to the ground, seemingly in shock that I managed to throw a knife and eventually kill her. Running over to her, I needed to make sure I got my knife back. It would be the only weapon I would have from now on, considering my other allies had either died or run away.

When I reached her body, Astrita was in a bloody mess. Her once white shirt was now red. I hadn't heard a cannon yet, so I knew she was still alive.

"I can't believe you," Astrita coughed, blood splattering my legs. "You, of all people, managed to kill me. Come here." I warily kneeled down, not sure of where it was going. The other Careers were still keeping their distance, probably excited that they were one person closer to winning. "Violet Langston. The person that killed me, Astrita Noble." She winced. I looked up and saw the Careers disappearing into the maze. Great allies. "I'm going to die soon. You and I both know that. But I won't be leaving without killing you first." Before I knew what was happening, I saw that she still had a knife, hidden from sight, and plunged it into my ribcage. I staggered back, hearing her cannon go off. Looking down, I saw my shirt slowly turning red and saw the world start turning black. I couldn't die. I came so far; I couldn't die. I collapsed, and heard someone run over to me, screaming my name. Opening my eyes, I saw a blurred face that vaguely looked like the girl from District Ten. I couldn't focus on it though, because I heard a cannon, and the world turned black.

In front of me stood my sister, all dressed in white. She had beautiful white wings that wrapped around her. "Welcome, Violet. I've been waiting for you for quite a long time now. But I am glad to see you." She ran over to me and engulfed me in a hug.

"But- the Games- Astrita- knife- what?"

She laughed, and it sounded as if bells were ringing. "You're in Heaven now, Violet. You're so close to death that you get to see what everything's like."  
"So I'm not officially 'dead' yet? Just on my way to being dead?

She nodded, her wavy hair bouncing. "Yup! Now granted, we don't usually do this to everyone. But you're my sister, so you're special."

"Wonderful." I wasn't sure if being special was a good thing or not. "Where is everyone else? Like Bates? Cristoff?" I gasped. "Can I see Rosetta?"

She looked uncomfortable. Rubbing her arm, she answered. "Well, they haven't been dead long enough to officially earn their wings. We also don't usually let people who have died- or on their way of dying- see other people besides someone they're really close to until they earn their wings."  
"Why? I want to see them."

Kate looked defeated. "Alright. But if Mr. Godswallow finds out, I'm in big trouble." She started walking, and I followed next to her.  
"Who's Mr. Godswallow?"

"Well, he's like the trainer for newly dead people. I work for him by helping welcome all of the newly dead."

"Oh. Okay." I looked in front of us and saw Rosetta. "Rosetta!" I shrieked and ran over to her, wanting to hug her. She looked up, and a smile lit up her face.

"Violet!" We embraced. "What happened to you? Did you die? By who? How? You were supposed to win!"

"Well… I'm not officially dead yet, just on my way. I wanted to see you though."

She smiled, but quickly replaced it with a frown. "Wait, you're not dead yet? Then you have to know about-"  
She was shushed by Kate, who quietly told her she would talk to her later about it.

"About what?"

Kate looked angry, but motioned for Rosetta to continue.

Shyly, Rosetta explained. "Well, if you're on your way of dying, but not fully dead, you have the option of going back to Earth under a few circumstances. One is, you will forget everything about this place. Secondly, you will most likely be in excruciating pain, and you will have to suffer through it. Lastly, you will not be able to come back to Heaven once you die again; you have to be reborn three times before you can return. That's it I think."

Kate nodded. "I didn't want to tell you just yet. But now that you know, you have to make your decision right now."

I didn't know what to do. I acted on impulse.

Opening my eyes, I saw the girl from Ten kneeling beside me, putting bandages on my side.

I groaned. "What happened?"

She jumped, startled by my speaking. "Well… uh… you got stabbed and I came in to try and help you survive. My other ally, Samantha, was killed by the Careers after she killed Edward.. I was running away from them and I found you, lying on the ground. I figured you should survive, so I helped you."

"But why wouldn't you just kill me? Then you'd be closer to getting home."

She shook her head. "I couldn't do that. That would just be wrong. I also wanted to know if you wanted to be allies, and a dead ally isn't much use."

"Okay."  
"Okay what?"  
"Okay I'll be your ally. My other ones were killed, and one ran away. The coward."

Sandy seemed incredibly happy. "Oh thank goodness! I was scared you would just stab me and continue on with the Games.

And that was that. We talked for a little bit longer, until it was time for us to see who all had died during the day. First was Astrita, then Edward, followed by Samantha and Bates. Four people in one day.

I turned on my side and thought back to the dream I had while I was knocked out. It was such a strange dream, having everyone be in Heaven. The mind is a very strange place, and I guess mine just wanted to be in Heaven, seeing everyone again. I nodded off, not wanting to face the next day in the Games.

**A/N: I am so sorry everyone for how long it took me to write this chapter! I honestly don't enjoy it that much, I'm really sorry about that. Maybe you'll like it though. I don't know. In fact, let me know! For every review that I get, I'll respond to it in my Author's Notes at the end of each chapter (my friend came up with the idea and suggested I try it (: ) So yeah! Tell me what you think! I shall respond to each and every review I get! **

**~Alex**


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